Have you ever wondered what happens when a writer models a character in her bestselling novel on a family member? I’d imagine it goes something like this:

Yeah, Dad, you’re right. The dad in my book flies model airplanes like you do, has a mustache that twirls up at the ends like yours, and trekked across Tibet in his youth like you did, but my fictional dad is a jerk, which you are NOT. He totally isn’t you, okay?

I wrote about this today at YA Outside the Lines. You can read the whole post here.

Have you ever wondered what happens when a writer models a character in her bestselling novel on a family member? I’d imagine it goes something like this:

Yeah, Dad, you’re right. The dad in my book flies model airplanes like you do, has a mustache that twirls up at the ends like yours, and trekked across Tibet in his youth like you did, but my fictional dad is a jerk, which you are NOT. He totally isn’t you, okay?

I wrote about this today at YA Outside the Lines. You can read the whole post here.

Have you ever wondered what happens when a writer models a character in her bestselling novel on a family member? I’d imagine it goes something like this:

Yeah, Dad, you’re right. The dad in my book flies model airplanes like you do, has a mustache that twirls up at the ends like yours, and trekked across Tibet in his youth like you did, but my fictional dad is a jerk, which you are NOT. He totally isn’t you, okay?

I wrote about this today at YA Outside the Lines. You can read the whole post here.

I wrote this novel called My Invented Life because I wanted to. It turns out that the novel-I-wanted-to-write encouraged acceptance of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. Go figure.

In any case, have you done anything that encourages acceptance? I bet you have!!!

There’s a great opportunity to win a scholarship from Shooting Star Mags if you have. I’m too old *sniff*, but if you’re 15 – 19, you might want to give it a look.

http://bridgethegapx.blogspot.com/2011/05/living-beyond-tolerance-scholarship.html

I wrote this novel called My Invented Life because I wanted to. It turns out that the novel-I-wanted-to-write encouraged acceptance of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. Go figure.

In any case, have you done anything that encourages acceptance? I bet you have!!!

There’s a great opportunity to win a scholarship from Shooting Star Mags if you have. I’m too old *sniff*, but if you’re 15 – 19, you might want to give it a look.

http://bridgethegapx.blogspot.com/2011/05/living-beyond-tolerance-scholarship.html

I wrote this novel called My Invented Life because I wanted to. It turns out that the novel-I-wanted-to-write encouraged acceptance of lesbian, gay, bi, and trans people. Go figure.

In any case, have you done anything that encourages acceptance? I bet you have!!!

There’s a great opportunity to win a scholarship from Shooting Star Mags if you have. I’m too old *sniff*, but if you’re 15 – 19, you might want to give it a look.

http://bridgethegapx.blogspot.com/2011/05/living-beyond-tolerance-scholarship.html

Youtube is a great place to spend a lot of time do research for a novel. Just the other day, I needed a song for Erin in Miss Fortune Cookie–something slightly embarrassing for her to sing when she thinks she’s alone (but isn’t). Mwaahaahaa. I spent a very enjoyable hour, and added a whole dozen words to my manuscript. Very productive!

Not exactly.

But Nrrd Grrl by MC Chris totally cracked me up. I want to write about her. She’s perfect.

Youtube is a great place to spend a lot of time do research for a novel. Just the other day, I needed a song for Erin in Miss Fortune Cookie–something slightly embarrassing for her to sing when she thinks she’s alone (but isn’t). Mwaahaahaa. I spent a very enjoyable hour, and added a whole dozen words to my manuscript. Very productive!

Not exactly.

But Nrrd Grrl by MC Chris totally cracked me up. I want to write about her. She’s perfect.

I asked a Maria, a fabulous librarian blogger, to write a guest post about her favorite contemporary YA novels. Read on!

Reading contemporary fiction is a fairly recent thing for me; my reading has always skewed towards fantasy, except for my great love of the Baby-Sitters Club and Judy Blume books. But, there are only so many books about vampires, werewolves and other assorted paranormal creatures a person can read before they need a break. Contemporary fiction is the perfect antidote to what I like to call “paranormal overload.”  All of the books on this list were published in the past three years and can be easily found at your local bookstore or library.

A very recent favorite is Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, in which Audrey breaks up with her boyfriend, he writes a song about their breakup, that song rockets up the charts as it becomes super popular. It’s ultimately about the fallout of sudden fame and what happens to Audrey, her friends and family. Filled with music and extremely funny moments, it was hard to put down. I found myself wanting to jump into the book just so I could be friends with Audrey, James, Jonah and Victoria. Audrey, Wait! is just such a fun book; I dare you not to smile at least once while reading.

For a double dose of music, I would pair Audrey, Wait! with Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron. A much more quiet book than Audrey, Wait!, Jon Skovron still packs a punch with Sammy, Jen5 and the stress of rehearsing for the “Battle of the Bands.” Throw in a grandfather-grandson relationship and the hope that a friendship could be more, and you’ve got a great, funny yet poignant story. I wonder what would happen if Audrey and Sammy ever met.

Who resist the call of a trip to the beach? Especially during the summer and when it comes with a pair of brothers like Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. The Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You, We’ll Always Have Summer) is Belly’s story, from awkward little sister with a huge crush on Conrad to something more. What I love about these books is that Belly is instantly relatable, she could easily be your sister or best friend, someone you could giggle over guys with, just don’t go after Conrad or Jeremiah and everything will be great. Jenny Han has created such great characters, that it’s so easy to imagine that you’re at Cousins Beach with them. I’ve included the third book here, even though I haven’t read it, because I can’t imagine that it would be any less wonderful than the first two.

Another book that’s set, at least in part, at the beach is Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. This time the reader travels to Zanzibar Bay, California with Anna and her best friend Frankie. Both of them are grievin

I asked a Maria, a fabulous librarian blogger, to write a guest post about her favorite contemporary YA novels. Read on!

Reading contemporary fiction is a fairly recent thing for me; my reading has always skewed towards fantasy, except for my great love of the Baby-Sitters Club and Judy Blume books. But, there are only so many books about vampires, werewolves and other assorted paranormal creatures a person can read before they need a break. Contemporary fiction is the perfect antidote to what I like to call “paranormal overload.”  All of the books on this list were published in the past three years and can be easily found at your local bookstore or library.

A very recent favorite is Audrey, Wait! by Robin Benway, in which Audrey breaks up with her boyfriend, he writes a song about their breakup, that song rockets up the charts as it becomes super popular. It’s ultimately about the fallout of sudden fame and what happens to Audrey, her friends and family. Filled with music and extremely funny moments, it was hard to put down. I found myself wanting to jump into the book just so I could be friends with Audrey, James, Jonah and Victoria. Audrey, Wait! is just such a fun book; I dare you not to smile at least once while reading.

For a double dose of music, I would pair Audrey, Wait! with Struts and Frets by Jon Skovron. A much more quiet book than Audrey, Wait!, Jon Skovron still packs a punch with Sammy, Jen5 and the stress of rehearsing for the “Battle of the Bands.” Throw in a grandfather-grandson relationship and the hope that a friendship could be more, and you’ve got a great, funny yet poignant story. I wonder what would happen if Audrey and Sammy ever met.

Who resist the call of a trip to the beach? Especially during the summer and when it comes with a pair of brothers like Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher. The Summer Trilogy by Jenny Han (The Summer I Turned Pretty, It’s Not Summer Without You, We’ll Always Have Summer) is Belly’s story, from awkward little sister with a huge crush on Conrad to something more. What I love about these books is that Belly is instantly relatable, she could easily be your sister or best friend, someone you could giggle over guys with, just don’t go after Conrad or Jeremiah and everything will be great. Jenny Han has created such great characters, that it’s so easy to imagine that you’re at Cousins Beach with them. I’ve included the third book here, even though I haven’t read it, because I can’t imagine that it would be any less wonderful than the first two.

Another book that’s set, at least in part, at the beach is Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler. This time the reader travels to Zanzibar Bay, California with Anna and her best friend Frankie. Both of them are grieving the sudden dea

I wanted to pass along this excellent opportunity to submit your poetry, short fiction, or pages from a novel, and win amazing prizes.

Author Stephanie Dray is sponsoring the Cleopatra Literary Contest for young women aged 14-22. The deadline is March 1st.

Read about the details at her contest page.

Sometimes I stay up hours past my bedtime reading a book to find out what happens next. Other times, I just stare at the book on my nightstand, hoping it will read itself.

What makes one book a page-turner, and another not so much? It’s a mystery.

Not entirely, though. I zoom through books when I care about the main character, the writing style engages me, and the story is intriguing. That’s where good plotting comes in. I usually plot by the seat of my pants. Outlining stifles my creativity. I dread writing scenes that are mapped out ahead of time. Still, this method requires a lot of rewriting. So I’ve investigated techniques for plotting that don’t require outlines. One method in particular speaks to me–make a list of the heart clutching moments (HCMs) in your story, and then connect the dots.

You can read the article about HCMs at Writers’ Digest here.

Plus, I’ve read many excellent books on the topic, such as Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell

But I haven’t changed my evil ways entirely. Author, Cheryl Renee Herbsman (Breathing, Penguin 2009) captures my feelings exactly in this funny post called When Craft Attacks.

Talented, sweet, and down to earth YA author L.K. Madigan has recently announced some heart-breaking news. You can read about it in her own words here.

The Feast of Awesome will give away EIGHTY copies her books …

the Morris Award winning FLASH BURNOUT and

the amazing THE MERMAID’S MIRROR

To win a set, visit the Feast of Awesome and leave a comment.

This is a major celebration of Lisa and her talent!! Please join in.

Friday before last, I spoke on a panel at the National YALSA Conference about trends in LGBT teen lit. I had a fab time meeting librarians that have passion around diverse books.

I did a guest post about the experience at Lee Wind’s blog–I’M HERE. I’M QUEER. WHAT THE HELL DO I READ? Go there to read all the fun details.

One of the best parts was meeting up with other authors I know only from conferences or online. We could (and did) talk and laugh for hours!

Back L to R: Neesha Meminger, Kirstin Cronn-Mills, Malinda Lo, Megan Frazer. Front L to R: Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Cynthea Liu, Me

Cynthea bought a bottle of wine for us all to share, but we never managed to get it open with our cheap corkscrew. Oh well. We look so sad, right?

I just love these photos!

EM

VANILLLA & SCARRLET

ANT-SOLO

JENNIFER

ELIZABETH

DAWN

KORY

JENNIFER

The contest is over (sniff), and the prizes have been sent. I especially loved Smooshy Face pictures that everyone sent in.  Here are a few more to make you smile!

ERICA – The most excellent blogger (www.thebookcellarx.com)

JULIANNA

KATHY

DEBORAH

AIK

Stay tuned for one last installment!

THANK YOU FOR ENTERING!!!

I had SO much fun reading your comments and the pictures you sent.

Everyone who entered wins a free signed bookmark. Just email your address to [email protected].

And now it’s winner time. Drumroll please …

My first place winner is my namesake LAUREN M!!! She sent this adorable picture.

2nd place: JAEL

3rd place: NINEFLY

4th place: EMILIA    She also sent a lovely photo with her grandma. Awwwww!

5th place: MARIE

6th place: LINDSEY

7th place: MICHELE.  Michele’s picture totally made me smile!

8th place: NATISHA

9th place: JESSICA  Jessica sent a picture from a real live photobooth!

10th place: BAHNREE

11th place: BECA R

12th place: NIAN

13th place: FI CHAN  I love this picture!

14th place: LEA

9 Comments on I haz winnerz!!!, last added: 10/17/2010